Last night the New Jersey Devils took on the Carolina Hurricanes in the latter half of a home-and-home and once again left the ice with two points.
They trailed heading into the 3rd period but Nick Lappin banged in his 1st career goal to tie things up and the Devils eventually went on to win in a shootout.
It was their second win in a row and sixth in 10 games.
The Good
- The Devils played as well in the 1st period as I have seen them play in years. They came out firing from the word go recording 19 shots and nine scoring chances in the opening 20 minutes. Unfortunately they had just one goal to show for their efforts but they played about as well as they possibly could have.
- Taylor Hall logged more than 21 minutes at 5 v 5 last night. In that time the Devils out chanced the Hurricanes 14-3. It's games like this where you realize just how special of a player he is.
- With P.A. Parenteau on the ice at 5 v 5 the Devils won out attempted the Hurricanes 20-8, out shot them 12-7 and out chanced them 9-2. Individually Parenteau recorded the game's first goal, four shots on net and the shootout winner. To nobody's surprise he has been very good for the Devils and looked the part of a solid top-6 forward. I still can't believe he was waived.
- Travis Zajac continues to look like the guy we saw in the late 2000s when he was playing on a line with Zach Parise. He has always been great defensively but right now he is making a lot of plays offensively as well. He is averaging more than two shots per game for the first time since 2013-14, looks more confident with the puck on his stick, and is finding open teammates with creative passes on a consistent basis. He has found another level, which is good considering Adam Henrique has taken a step back in the early going.
- Damon Severson had another strong showing last night. One thing in particular that has stood out in the early going is how smart he has been with his pinches. He has jumped into the play a fair bit, which his point totals can attest to, but he is picking his spots better than we've seen from him in the past. He has his head on a swivel and hasn't really activated unless he knew someone was covering for him. Knowing Andy Greene is always backing him up helps, obviously, but the forwards have done a nice job filling in for him when he has pinched.
- Nick Lappin isn't flashy but he is a real smart player who can play at both ends of the ice. The coaching staff gave him a couple extra shifts here and there and he rewarded them last night with the game-tying-goal. I think his spot in the lineup is secured for the foreseeable future because there's no way John Hynes is taking him out of the lineup while he is playing like this.
The Bad
- The Devils played well at full-strength but on the man advantage they had their share of struggles. They had problams gaining the opposing line with possession and were forced to dump it in a lot. That made it easy for the Hurricanes to retrieve pucks and fire them down the ice. The Devils need to be better with their entries.
- Kyle Palmieri has no gone eight consecutive games without scoring a goal. It is not a big problem right now because other guys are scoring - the Devils actually have enough depth to survive dry spells like this - but he really needs to get it going sooner than later. He is supposed to be one of the leaders offensively and right now he is a passenger.
- Kyle Quincey started the season pretty well but he has not been as good of late. His underlying numbers have taken a bit of a hit and he's made some really weird decisions on the ice. At one point he tapped his stick numerous times calling for Pavel Zacha to pass it to him in the defensive zone. Zacha got Quincey the puck and before taking a stride he fired it down the ice for an icing. What good is that? To make matters worse the Hurricanes actually scored within a minute or so of that happening.
- The Devils out shot the Hurricanes 14-3 with Yohann Auvitu on the ice at 5 v 5. His reward? The fewest minutes among all blue liners on the team. Give the guy a look playing some steady minutes because he's killing it in a depth role right now.
Stat Of The Game
Severson played more than 18 minutes at full-strength, over half of which against Carolina's top line, and was only on the ice for two scoring chances against.
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